This invention relates to automated devices in the semiconductor industry.
More particularly, the present invention relates to indexing devices.
In a further and more specific aspect, the instant invention concerns indexing devices for use in the semiconductor industry.
The use of indexing devices is well known in the semiconductor industry. These devices are employed to automatically load semiconductor wafers into various processing apparatus, such as plasma etch devices, curing devices, etc., during semiconductor fabrication. The very nature of semiconductor processing requires an extremely sterile environment. Besides slowing production and increasing man hours, manual handling of wafers greatly increases contamination thereby reducing quality and yield.
Conventional indexing devices employ what are essentially rubber bands to transport wafers. While effective, the bands require continuous adjustment and are not particularly accurate in their placement of the wafer in a cassette or in a processing device.
It would be highly advantageous, therefore, to remedy the foregoing and other deficiencies inherent in the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved indexing device.
Another object of the invention is to provide an indexing device that will evenly and uniformly transport disks.
And another object of the invention is to provide an indexing device which will accurately place wafers.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an indexing device which is reliable.
Briefly, to achieve the desired objects of the instant invention in accordance with a preferred embodiment thereof, provided is an indexing device for loading disks into and unloading disks from a cassette. The indexing device includes a housing having a cassette support mechanism for receiving a cassette, and transport apparatus carried by the housing. The transport apparatus includes a bed of rollers having a common plane and a drive assembly coupled to the bed of rollers.
In a specific aspect, the cassette support mechanism is movable along a pathway between a raised position and a lowered position relative the bed of rollers. The cassette support mechanism is positioned above the bed of rollers in the raised position and is positioned below the bed of rollers in the lowered position. In a more specific aspect, the bed of rollers extends at least partially into the pathway, and the cassette is supported so that disks contained therein are substantially parallel to the plane of the bed of rollers.
In yet a more specific aspect, the bed of rollers includes a plurality of axles rotatably coupling the rollers to the housing and the drive assembly includes a motor coupled to the housing, a drive wheel coupled to the motor, a plurality of driven wheels coupled to the axles of the bed of rollers, and a drive belt coupling the drive wheel to the plurality of driven wheels.